Get AI-powered listing analysis running in under an hour (build V3.6.1.0)
What you’re buildingOne AI profile ties four pieces together: a system prompt (how to analyze a listing) → fields to send (what data the AI receives) → a display template (how the answer looks). One extra piece — a filter — is what actually triggers the analysis on your searches.
Table of Contents
- What You Need
- Open AI Settings
- Get Your Prompt & Display Template
- Build the Profile — the 3-Step Wizard
- Create the Filter
- Start & Test
- Did It Work?
- Quick Reference
- What’s Next
- Support
This is the shortest path from nothing to a working analysis. Every screen here is covered in far more detail in the detailed setup guide — come here to get running, go there when you want to understand a step.
Mindset
Your goal right now is one working round-trip. Get something simple running end to end, then improve it. A short prompt that works beats a detailed one that doesn’t.
What You Need #
- Enterprise license, whitelisted for SKU Manager.
- An AI API key — OpenAI (ChatGPT) is the recommended provider; Google, Anthropic and xAI are also offered. Make sure billing is active on the account.
- A Claude or ChatGPT account — for writing your prompt and template.
- The SKU Manager Knowledge Package — one download, in Get Your Prompt & Display Template.
Python & Chrome install themselvesYou do not install either one. The first time you open AI Settings, SKU Manager builds the Python environment and installs the libraries it needs. It takes a few minutes; let it finish and don’t click anything while it runs.
Getting Whitelisted #
- Go to Menu > Help > Subscription Info and copy your License Key.
- Submit it via Live Support on the uBuyFirst website and agree to the Terms.
- Wait for whitelist confirmation — SKU Manager won’t run until it comes through.
Open AI Settings #
About 10 minutes, most of it waiting.
1. Open the AI Settings Dialog #
Open the uBuyFirst application and click the Data tab. In the Ai group, click AI Settings. On a first install the setup wizard opens by itself.
2. Accept the User Agreement #
Read the SKU Manager – User Agreement, then click I Agree.
3. Let it Configure the Server #
Click Yes on Server Configuration Required. On a fresh install SKU Manager then builds the Python environment and installs the required libraries. Don’t click anything while it runs.
Leave the dialog there for now. The wizard needs your prompt, and you don’t have one yet — that’s the next step.
Get Your Prompt & Display Template #
About 20 minutes.
You create these two pieces before running the wizard, using an AI assistant loaded with our SKU Manager project knowledge. The prompt generates the data; the template displays it — they’re built together so they match.
1. Get the Knowledge Package #
Download the SKU Manager Knowledge Package and unzip it.
2. Set up Your AI Project #
Using Claude — go to Claude.ai → Projects → Create Project, name it “SKU Manager Assistant”, and drag all the files from the package onto the project’s Context panel. Start a chat inside that project.
Using our ChatGPT Custom GPT — open the SKU Manager Prompt/Template Assistant GPT (files already loaded).
Already have the project? This is the same SKU Manager Assistant project used for Internal Endpoint. If you built it there, it already contains everything you need — skip straight to Generate your first prompt & template below.
3. Generate Your First Prompt & Template #
Tell the assistant what you do and what matters:
I'm a professional buyer of [PRODUCT TYPE] on eBay and I want a prompt
and display template to analyze listings. Most important to me:
- [key factor 1]
- [key factor 2]
- [key factor 3]
Start simple, just to get it working. Please create both the prompt
and the display template.Keep the first version small — get a working round-trip, then add detail. Copy both pieces into a text file where you can get at them again.
Keep that text file
The code boxes in the app can truncate what you paste, so always keep the master copy somewhere else. Never hand-edit inside the box — edit your file and paste the whole thing in again.
Build the Profile — the 3-Step Wizard #
About 10 minutes.
Back in the AI Settings dialog the wizard opens on Step 1. On a first install the Profile Name is fixed at Default — that is expected, not a problem.
1. AI Configuration #
- Provider: OpenAI (ChatGPT).
- Model:
gpt-5.4-mini— good quality, low cost, and it reads images. - API Key: paste your key.
- System Prompt: paste the full prompt you generated.
Click Next Step.
Image Analysis Needs a Vision Model
Use
gpt-5.4-mini. Do not usegpt-4o-mini/ “GPT-4-mini” — it can’t read images, so any photo-based analysis will silently come back blind.
2. Fields & Columns #
- eBay Standard Listing Fields — grouped by section, with a search box. Tick whatever your prompt needs to read (Title, Condition, Total Price, Brand, Returns…). Fields tagged (recommended) are a safe starting set.
- Send Prompt Fields — under the list. Send pictures and Send description are ticked by default. Leave them on: photo-based analysis needs the pictures.
- eBay Category Item Specific Fields — leave empty unless your prompt needs item specifics. Add item specifics at the bottom opens the Custom Columns finder if you do.
- User-Defined Custom Columns (Results) — your AI output columns. Tick the ones you want in the grid.
Click Next Step.
Check only your real columns
The column list is read from your prompt’s JSON and includes every key it finds, including junk. Tick only the columns you actually defined.
3. Display Template #
Paste the HTML display template you generated, then click Finish Setup — this saves your profile and starts the AI server. It takes a moment; then close the dialog.
Create the Filter #
About 3 minutes.
Don’t Skip This — It’s Where Setups Die
The wizard is finished, but nothing will run yet. AI analysis will not run without a filter, and the filter is not part of the wizard.
- Go to Home → Filters and click Add.
- If condition is: the simplest catch-all is
TitleIs not blank. - Then do: Action = Apply AI Prompt.
- Profile: choose the profile you built.
- Set a Filter alias, click OK.
- Back in the Filters list, make sure the filter’s checkbox is enabled.
Enable the Checkbox
A freshly-created filter can arrive disabled. If the AI never runs, check that box first — it’s the most common cause.
Start & Test #
About 5 minutes.
- Make sure the AI Sku Analysis panel is visible (View → Panels if not).
- On the Data tab, leave Analyze new listings only selected (it is the default). The other setting sends every row already in the grid to the AI when the server starts.
- Cap your first run at Grid → Initial Results Max — set it to something small like
5. - Set up a search your filter will actually match.
- Click Start (Home tab, or the bottom status bar).
- Each new listing shows Not analyzed in the Current AI Status column, then Analyzed a few seconds later (it’s reading photos). Click any analyzed row — its analysis renders in the panel, and your ticked AI columns fill in the grid.
Starting the Server Analyzes What Is Already in the Grid
Rows already loaded when the AI server starts are analyzed straight away, even with Analyze new listings only selected, and each one is a paid API call. Click Clear results before starting the server if the grid is full, or cap it first at Grid → Initial Results Max. Confirm things work, then raise it.
Server Not Running?
It usually starts automatically after Finish Setup. If the panel still says otherwise, click Data → Ai → Start AI Server. Red italic status text is normal, not an error.
Did It Work? #
Working Correctly
The panel shows a formatted analysis, no errors, your API dashboard shows successful calls, and (if used) your AI columns show values.
Nothing showing? Check these in order:
- Is the filter’s Enabled checkbox ticked?
- Does your search actually match the filter’s condition?
- Is the filter’s action Apply AI Prompt, with your profile selected?
- Is the AI server running, and is the feed Started?
- Is billing active on your API account, and is the key correct?
- Panel says No Matching AI Filter? No filter with Apply AI Prompt caught the listing — create or enable it.
- Rows say Analyzed with errors? The server started before the filter existed. Create the filter, then right-click the row → Refresh AI analysis (a paid re-run; the app asks first).
Quick Reference #
| Piece | Where it lives | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| System prompt | AI Settings → AI Configuration | Tells the AI how to analyze a listing |
| Fields to send | AI Settings → Fields & Columns | Chooses what eBay data the AI receives |
| AI columns | AI Settings → Fields & Columns | Short values shown in the results grid |
| Display template | AI Settings → Display Template | Formats the analysis for the panel |
| Filter | Home → Filters | Triggers the analysis on your searches |
| Analyze new listings only · Keep results (days) | Data tab → Ai group | Which rows get analyzed, and how long results are kept |
| Current AI Status | Results grid column | Not analyzed / Analyzed / Analyzed with errors per row |
| Refresh AI analysis | Row right-click | Re-runs one listing (paid call, asks first) |
What’s Next #
- Test on 10–20 real listings and note what it gets wrong.
- Refine your prompt — go back to the same AI project and iterate there, so it keeps the context.
- Add AI columns — short, exact values you can scan, sort and filter on in the grid.
- Use feedback & traces — when the AI gets something wrong, click Feedback Trace at the top right of the AI panel. It saves a complete snapshot of that analysis as one zip you can hand back to your AI project to fix the prompt.
All four are covered in the detailed setup guide. Already have your own product list and want matching without an AI provider or per-listing cost? See the Internal Endpoint Mode setup guide.
Support #
Email: su*****@*******st.com
Live Support: available at uBuyFirst.com
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